Chios News

Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) on Monday announced it has sold one of the older vessels in its fleet, noting it plans to sell additional vessels in the near future.The 164,608 dwt suezmax tanker Eurochampion 2004, built at South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2005, was sold to an undisclosed buyer in a deal expected to contribute approximately $40 million to the TEN’s cash balances, the Greek shipowner said.In announcing the sale, TEN noted its management is in continuous discussions for further vessel sales in the near future.The company also announced it has taken delivery of two 115…

Two cargo vessels collided off the Greek island of Chios near the Turkish cost on Friday, authorities said, adding that there were no injuriesThe Singapore-flagged cargo vessel Potentia with 19 crew members and the Vanuatu-flagged ship Ant with 13 crew collided in the eastern Aegean Sea nine miles north of Chios."There are no injuries, there is no risk of pollution", a coast guard official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, adding that the ships were not loaded with cargo.It was not immediately clear what had caused the collision, the official added.

Houlder, the design and engineering consultancy, is collaborating with Blue Sea Power, an integrated energy solution provider as a gas-to-power company based in Athens, to develop three innovative floating LNG-to-power barges (FSRPs).According to the partners, the FSRP barges, which are set to be operational by 2025, will efficiently provide greener, lower emission baseload and peak power to the non-interconnected islands of Kos, Chios, and Lesvos. This power will be used when existing renewable solar and wind energy utilization reaches its technical limits.

A Turkish-flagged cargo ship carrying 382 mostly Afghan migrants docked safely at a Greek island's port early on Sunday, two days after losing power in the Aegean Sea and sending out a distress signal.Six people among what was the country's biggest single influx of migrants in years were detained after the vessel, the Murat 729, was towed into Kos port by a Greek coast guard ship, the migration ministry said.The other arrivals were taken to a reception centre on the island. Their stay at the center…

Greece mounted a rescue operation on Friday for a cargo ship carrying about 400 migrants after it sent out a distress signal off the island of Crete, the coast guard said.The Greek coast guard quoted passengers as saying the Turkish-flagged vessel had sailed from Turkey, calling it “one of the largest search and rescue operations carried out in the eastern Mediterranean.”Authorities said the ship was being taken to land but gave no further details. The nationalities of the passengers…

The technology group Wärtsilä said it has signed long-term maintenance agreements covering five liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers owned and operated by Greece-based Minerva Gas Inc.Included in the scope of the agreements is Wärtsilä’s Expert Insight, a service that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced diagnostics to monitor equipment and systems in real-time, spot anomalies, foresee potential problems, and enable rapid reaction accordingly.The vessels covered are the Minerva Kalymnos…

Three Greece-based shipping firms said they have halted trade with Venezuela after the United States imposed sanctions on vessels under their management, as Washington ramps up commercial heat on Caracas.The U.S. government is seeking to choke Venezuelan oil exports to starve the government of socialist President Nicolas Maduro of its main source of revenue. Existing sanctions have cut Venezuelan exports sharply, but Maduro has held on.Washington may tighten sanctions by adding dozens more tankers to an existing blacklist, sources told Reuters.The U.S. Treasury said on June 2 it had imposed sanctions on four shipping companies for transporting Venezuelan oil.Athens-based Dynacom Tankers Management…

Oil tankers that were sailing toward Venezuela have turned around and others have left the country’s waters as the United States considers blacklisting dozens of ships for transporting Venezuelan oil, according to shipping data and industry sources.The threat of tighter sanctions is already disrupting the global shipping market. Chinese oil firms are considering whether to decline to charter any tanker that has visited Venezuela in the past year, no matter where the ship is now or for what voyage, four shipping sources told Reuters on Tuesday.Washington is seeking to oust the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro by choking the oil exports that provide its main source of income.

Finland-based Langh Tech designs, the provider of scrubbers for SOx removal from exhaust gases and water treatment units for closed loop scrubbers, has successfully delivered a scrubber system to the Chios Navigation 50.000 dwt Medium Range product Tanker, a new-building from Hyundai Mipo Shipyard.Chios Navigation, a Greek ship-owning company owning nine bulk carrier and three medium range product tanker vessels, has selected during early 2018 Langh Tech Open Loop-Hybrid ready scrubbers for their New-building project in Hyundai Mipo.The system consists of a U-type multi-inlet 5 flue gas sources Open Loop hybrid ready configuration to serve a Main Engine of 7180 kW MCR power…

A cruise industry veteran of more than 25 years, Nikolaos Doulis, Lindblad Expeditions’ SVP, New Buildings, discusses with Maritime Reporter & Engineering News the build plan for “the best expedition cruise ship ever built.”Born in Greece to a seafaring family, Nikolaos Doulis was destined for a maritime career. His father was a ship captain and eventually a ship owner, and to support the family business he wanted his son to have an engineering education. So at the age of 14, Doulis started spending more time in and around ships…

The Vancouver International Maritime Centre (VIMC) and the Department of Shipping, Trade and Transport of the University of the Aegean have signed a signed a Bilateral Agreement to develop faculty and student exchange programs as well as marine-related training initiatives between Greece and Canada. The collaboration aims to boost educational and maritime opportunities between both nations while continuing to build on Canadian-Greek relations. The partnership was announced during an event in Athens…

Greek ferry owners are stressing the importance of high quality, reliable ship repair partners in the Western Med in the first half of 2016, according to ship repair yard Gibdock  who says it has received two first time ship visits emphasizing the Gibraltar yard’s ability to meet contrasting ship renewal needs. The Hellas Seaways ro-pax vessel Nissos Chios and the Portucalence Shipping Company ferry Express Santorini were both in the Gibdock yard for the first time recently, the former undergoing a broad spectrum of scheduled repairs and the latter in for emergency structural renewal.

A new lifeboat station has been opened on the Greek island of Chios – with the cooperation of International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) members – to help support the rescue of migrants in the Aegean. The Lifeboat station was made possible through a partnership between Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding Maatschappij (KNRM), the maritime search and rescue service from the Netherlands, and the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT), and with the support of the Maria Tsakos Foundation along with community leaders and local volunteers. At an event to celebrate the opening of the centre – which was completed in only three months – two lifeboat vessels donated by the KNRM, Athena and Arina to be deployed on the surrounding waters, were also christened.

Two ferries carrying more than 120 migrants returned to Turkey from the Greek island of Lesbos on Friday, in the second round of arrivals under an EU deal with Ankara to stem mass migration to Europe across the Aegean Sea. The accord, which came into force on Monday, aims to help end a chaotic influx into the European Union of migrants and refugees, most fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and beyond, after more than 1 million arrived last year. Around 325 people have now been sent back from the Greek islands under the accord, which the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) has condemned and rights advocates say may violate international law. They are to be sent to a camp near Turkey's border with Bulgaria, to which the UNHCR said it had yet to gain access.

Three passenger boats return migrants from Lesbos, Chios; desperate migrants continue to cross despite deal. The first migrants deported from Greek islands under a disputed EU-Turkey deal were shipped back to Turkey on Monday in a drive to shut down the main route by which a million people fleeing war and poverty crossed the Aegean Sea in the last year. Under the pact criticised by refugee agencies and human rights campaigners, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who enter Greece illegally, including Syrians. In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

Arrivals of refugees and migrants to Greece from Turkey rose sharply on Wednesday, just over a week since the European Union and Turkey struck a deal intended to cut off the flow. Greek authorities recorded 766 new arrivals between Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning, up from 192 the previous day. Most arrived on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos. Italy reported an even larger jump in arrivals on Tuesday, when officials there said 1,350 people - mostly from Africa - were rescued from small boats taking the longer migration route over the Mediterranean as the weather warmed up. The EU Commission said on Tuesday that the flows in the last week had reduced…

Aerial drone footage shows Hellenic Seaways' largest ferry, Ariadne, maneuver in the small port of Chios. Watch the video here. Ariadne, a Japanese-built RoRo passenger ferry, was constructed in 1996 and flies the Greek flag, calling ports Piraeus, Chios and Mytilini.  Length: 196 m Width: 27 m Speed: 27.5 knots Vehicles: 56 Passengers: 2,045 Cabins/Beds: 145/459

The International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF) is to strengthen the capacity and effectiveness of the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT), an IMRF member organization which is constantly rescuing migrants in the Aegean Sea. The IMRF will do this with the support of European maritime search and rescue (SAR) organizations who are also IMRF members. Following a temporary drop in the number of people trying to reach the Greek islands by sea in November, figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) are showing an increase again.

Two high-speed boats from Sweden have joined the sea rescue effort in the Eastern Aegean, and it was GAC that coordinated their delivery to Greece. The craft were sent by the not-for-profit NGO, the Swedish Sea Rescue Society (SSRS), in response to the growing humanitarian crisis that has seen thousands of refugees attempting to cross the sea to enter Europe through the islands of Eastern Greece. According to figures from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in July 2015 alone 50,000 new arrivals were reported, mainly to the islands of Lesvos, Chios, Kos, Samos and Leros. 2014 was the deadliest year on record, with over 3…

One of the largest sailing ships in the world, the 636-foot-long Club Med 2 is a huge five-masted cruise ship owned and operated by Club Med. The impressively massive vessel recently called the port of Chios Island Greece, where Konstantinos Mil. Anagnostou was able to capture stunning aerial photos and video. Watch here. Built from 1992 to 1996 in Le Havre, France, Club Med 2 harnesses power from computer-operated sails combined with diesel-electric power. Seven sails and four diesel generators powering two electric motors propel the ship to speeds of 10-15 knots.

Greece will ask the European Union for about 700 million euros to build infrastructure to shelter the hundreds of refugees and migrants arriving on its shores daily, the government said on Thursday. The cash-strapped country has seen a rise in the number of refugees and migrants -- mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- arriving by sea from nearby Turkey. Aid agencies estimate about 2,000 people cross over to Greek islands including Kos, Lesbos, Samos and Chios every day. The interim government said it planned to set up a new operations centre and take steps to improve conditions at existing refugee centers. Economy Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said the country will seek EU funds earmarked to address the crisis.

According to local news, a female passenger is currently missing from MSC Cruises‘ MSC Magnifica. The Magnifica was sailing to Izmir, Turkey when the woman disappeared overboard. The passenger, identified as Chinese, is believed to have fallen overboard on Wednesday morning as the 2,500 passenger ship was en-route to Izmir after sailing from Katakolon. By the time the passenger was known missing the 92,400 gross ton vessel had sailed for some time in the Aegean Sea. The Greek Coast Guard was notified at some point. The Coast guard have launched a rescue operation in the sea region between the Aegean islands of Kea and Kythnos and the north coasts of the island of Chios. A Super Puma helicopter and three coast guard vessels participate in the operation.

The Maria Tsakos Foundation-International Center for Maritime Research and Tradition and ClassNK have embarked on a joint venture to cooperate on matters of common interest, with emphasis on maritime research and environmental protection. A signing ceremony to commemorate the agreement between the two partners was held at the Foundation’s headquarters in Athens on November 29, 2013. ClassNK Chairman and President Noboru Ueda, and Maria Tsakos Foundation Chairman and IMO Secretary…